Absorbent Minds in Central New York

A conversation with Susan French-Lawyer, co-founder, trustee and

administrator of the Montessori Learning Center

Mary Lawyer-O'Connor and Susan French-Lawyer

MONTESSORI EDUCATION CALLS FOR LOTS OF ADAPTATION AND EXPERIMENTATION. It’s a loosely structured, individualized approach whereby children are encouraged to gravitate toward activities and subjects that interest them. Maria Montessori, the turn of the century philosopher-educator-psychologist for whom the method is named, would have been lucky to have advocates like Susan French-Lawyer. When faced with ending her child’s Montessori education after preschool because the only option available was making daily treks to Ithaca, Lawyer did something special: she started her own school. That’s right, Lawyer, along with her sister-in-law Mary Lawyer-O’Connor, co-founded the Montessori Learning Center (an elementary school) in Syracuse. "It’s important for this community to have Montessori education," she says. "It’s an important option."

Syracuse's Montessori Learning Center (MLC) is divided into three sections: a classroom for 3-6 year-olds, one for 6-9 year olds and a section for 9-12 year olds. A group of parents and trustees from the MLC are currently planning a Montessori Middle School.

We recently visited Lawyer and discussed advantages of Montessori and what the future holds for the philosophy. Her infectious enthusiasm for the project and philosophy were evident during our visit.

What follows is an interview in her own words.

Each Montessori school has it’s own personality. We started with seven students and a group of committed parents. That was three years ago. We now have 44 students. I think we’re doing very well. We’re a really good team and we believe in Montessori. We’re all parents here. Pat’s a parent; our French teacher’s a parent. I knew before my child was born that she would go to Montessori pre-school. I watched the experience that Mary’s children had in the Montessori classroom and I also learned from Mary’s mother Carol, who’s a Montessori trained teacher. When you learn about Montessori, it just makes sense.

The whole purpose of Montessori is to bring things down to the child’s level. We hope to create a successful experience for the child, help them learn independence and make them feel as if they are master’s of their environment. This is not the teacher’s environment, this is the children’s environment and they own it.

Central New York is receptive because when I ask people where they heard about us, a lot of them either heard from friends or they looked us up in the yellow pages. What that tells me is that people are looking for options. Some people are also familiar with pre-school Montessori programs and before they move to the Syracuse area, they call us. And for families who have left here, one of their biggest concerns is finding a Montessori school as good as this one. When they move to places such as Seattle or down South they’re disappointed.

In addition to having the Montessori Learning Center here for children to attend, we are also a resource for people who want to try this. We have all the pieces in place. Many teachers have visited us; education students have visited us; we’ve had administrators come. I think it’s really helpful to see it all in place. If you read about it in a book or if someone’s trying to sell it in a staff meeting. You can’t understand how powerful the Montessori method is as an educational approach unless you see how the children are working in these classrooms.

From day one we’ve worked very hard to create a diverse community. We want this community to be culturally diverse, ethnically diverse and economically diverse. We do that by offering scholarships. If someone really wants to be here, if they understand Montessori and really want this for their child, then we do everything we can for them. Our priority is to make it possible. And right now, although we aren’t making any money, there scholarship students. (In the future), I want us to have some endowed scholarships. I’d also like to see more fundraising geared toward scholarships.

To start a Montessori program you need an awful lot of energy. I think running any school is very difficult and challenging. Parents are entrusting you with their children and you’re not just taking care of them all day, but you’ve been charged with teaching them and making them better people. There are studies that talk about how much more time a child spends at school than at home, or interacting with the people at school.

"You can’t understand how powerful Montessori is as an educational approach unless you see how the children are working in these classrooms."

If you notice, this is a very materials intensive set up. And it’s not plastic. So there’s a significant capital outlay required to setup a classroom. And the problem is, if you don’t set it up right coming into it, then the children don’t have what they need. A challenge that the public faces when starting a Montessori school is that they buy the materials, but they don’t train teachers; or they train the teachers but they don’t have the materials. You have to have everything: you have to have the philosophy that supports it, you have the materials; and you have to have trained teachers. There’s a very high demand for Montessori teachers. If you have you Montessori training for 6-9 (year olds) you can go anywhere. It’s job security.

There are only a handful of Montessori high schools in the country. We’ve been studying a middle school and one of our recent parent nights was about identifying the characteristics of the adolescent child and what that child needs. It’s really interesting. Middle school kids need to be doing big physical stuff, not little close in stuff. They really need peers, but kids also need to be around inter-generational groups of people. They need adults who are mentors who aren’t their parents. They are developing their life purpose at this stage and they need to know that who they are and what they do makes a difference in the world.

If you look at what’s happening in most middle schools today, kids don’t have any of that. Their interests aren’t necessarily respected and the ways in which they express themselves doesn’t foster success or positive responses from others. So the children feel horrible and they don’t succeed. That’s when they turn to non-constructive behavior. The kind of program we’re talking about is one that would send children into the community to do internships. So if you have a child that is really interested in a certain pursuit, you find a mentor for them. Someone interested in computers would go to a software designing company.

You give children a chance to work as a community of peers, but on something significant, something meaningful. And as they move into middle school ages, we’ve gotten them ready and increasingly independent, so they can make relatively responsible choices about how to develop their interests. But they know that they have to do well rounded work in all circular areas. So you create a learning community where each child is valued, self-motivated, empowered and therefore successful.

 

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